Barbara Chamberlin

The Power of Play: Innovations in Getting Active Summit 2011 A Science Panel Proceedings Report From the American Heart Association

Background— To examine the influence active-play video gaming (also referred to as exergaming, exertainment, and active gaming) might have on improving health-related skills, enhancing self-esteem and self-efficacy, promoting social support, and ultimately motivating positive changes in health behaviors, the American Heart Association convened The Power of Play: Innovations in Getting Active Summit. The summit, as well as a follow-up science panel, was hosted by the American Heart Association and Nintendo of America. Methods and Results— The science panel discussed the current state of research on active-play video gaming and its potential to serve as a gateway experience that might motivate players to increase the amount and intensity of physical activity in their daily lives. The panel identified the need for continued research on the gateway concept and on other behavioral health outcomes that could result from active-play video games and considered how these games could potentially affect disparate populations. Conclusions— The summit represented an exciting first step in convening healthcare providers, behavioral researchers, and professionals from the active-play video game industry to discuss the potential health benefits of active-play video games. Research is needed to improve understanding of processes of behavior change with active games. Future games and technologies may be designed with the goal to optimize physical activity participation, increase energy expenditure, and effectively address the abilities and interests of diverse and targeted populations. The summit helped the participants gain an understanding of what is known, identified gaps in current research, and supported a dialogue for continued collaboration.

The Learning Games Design Model: Immersion, Collaboration, and Outcomes-Driven Development

Instructional designers in the Learning Games Lab at New Mexico State University have developed a specific approach for the creation of educational games, one that has been used successfully in over 20 instructional design projects and is extensible to other developers. Using this approach, game developers and content experts (a) work collaboratively to ensure educational goals and outcomes are appropriate for the learner and the learning environment, (b) immerse themselves’ in both content and game design, and (c) test extensively throughout development with members of the target audience. The authors describe the model, discuss the implications of this approach for the creation of effective educational games, and share case studies based on the design model in practice. DOI: 10.4018/ijgbl.2012070106 88 International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 2(3), 87-110, July-September 2012 Copyright

Tangible interfaces for children: cognitive, social, & physical benefits and challenges

With the rise of prevalence of tangible interfaces of all kinds for children, this panel will present diverse perspectives on the benefits and challenges of these interfaces. These will include: exergames, mobile applications, and using digitally enhanced feedback for non-digital environments.

Initial Design Implications for Early Algebra Games

Prior to developing learning games, it is useful for game developers to assess similar games. This process is addressed through the immersion component in the Pre-Development Phase of the Learning Games Design Model. This paper describes a more structured approach to the immersion component used by one development team to analyze early algebra games, offering a framework to discuss and analyze such games. The game development team reviewed more than 20 algebra games to identify effective design components and used to inform development of a new game and related tools. Through this process, which serves to enhance the existing Learning Games Design Model, the team was able to articulate their theoretical framework for future development, identifying specific recommendations that should yield effective games.

Short food safety videos promote peer networking and behavior change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to create a series of 30-60-second short videos to promote improved food safety behaviors of middle school youth, determine the feasibility of disseminating the videos through peer networks, and measure their effects on food safety attitudes, perceived social norms, and behaviors of youth. Design/methodology/approach – Food safety content specialists, learning experts, programmers, illustrators, project managers, instructional designers, scriptwriters, and stakeholders were involved in creation of the Don’t Be Gross short videos before evaluation by middle school youth (sixth to eighth grades). The experimental group (n=220) completed the following activities at about one-week intervals: pre-test, viewed videos, post-test, and follow-up test. The control group (n=112) completed the same activities at similar intervals but did not have access to the videos until after the follow-up test. Findings – Controlling for grade and gender, linear mixed-effects models revealed...

Creating Sustainable Technology Integration with Teachers: One One-Hour Workshop at a Time

Abstract Technology learning for K–12 teachers often occurs through short afternoon workshops or a single day-long session. Such circumstances emphasize the need for properly planned, high-quality technology workshops that ensure the sustainable integration of technology within content matter. The authors provide pragmatic and useful guidelines for technology integration into short-term training opportunities, including: creating the workshop description for participants, analyzing needs, developing the course structure, building in mechanisms for evaluation, and ensuring sustainability of the instruction. A short rubric outlines the recommendations (p. 25) and can be used as a guide for workshop planning and self-evaluation.